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Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 29 Sep 1999

Vol. 508 No. 1

Written Answers. - Human Rights Abuses.

Bernard J. Durkan

Ceist:

120 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the new initiatives, if any, he will take to focus attention on world human rights abuses with a view to establishing a major European focus and influence on various trouble spots through the UN or by alternative means with the objective of providing protection for vulnerable people in unstable jurisdictions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18132/99]

The Government is actively pursuing its human rights objectives in a wide range of international fora, both on a national basis and also in conjunction with our EU partners. In its capacity this year as chair of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in Geneva, Ireland has sought to promote discussion of human rights issues throughout the world. At the regional level, Ireland will avail of the opportunity provided by its forthcoming chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe to focus attention on the human rights role of that institution.

However, despite the efforts of the international community in international and regional fora such as those I have mentioned, there is a growing realisation – among governments and other international actors – that the systems in place for the protection of vulnerable people in situations of conflict are not providing an adequate level of protection. Reasons for this range from the failure of states to ratify relevant international instruments – the human rights and humanitarian law treaties which aim to provide protection for non-combatants – to the lack of resources and even political will to focus on these problems.

Consequently, and as I have already indicated in response to questions on reform of the United Nations, there is a developing debate on how the international community can most effectively react to crisis situations and humanitarian disasters, such as those now being witnessed in East Timor and in Kosovo earlier this year. This debate is focusing on the need for clarification of the principles and the establishment of agreed criteria for external intervention. In this regard, there is an evident need to reconcile the requirements of international human rights provisions with other principles such as national sovereignty or non-intervention as established by the UN charter. Ireland is actively involved in this debate and is currently engaged in discussions with like-minded countries, notably in a group known as the Human Security Network.

This initiative of the Canadian and Norwegian Governments is aimed at establishing the concept of human security as a central element in the international community's approach to situations of conflict. Meetings have been held in New York in September 1998, Bergen in May 1999 and, most recently, in New York on 24 September last, in the margins of the United Nations General Assembly. The Minister for Foreign Affairs took part in that meeting of 24 September with the foreign ministers of the other parties to this initiative. They discussed possible ways of advancing the concept of human security and preparations will now be made for an in-depth and action oriented meeting in Lucerne in the spring.

On another front, the United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, recently sent a report to the UN Security Council, in which he set out a series of recommendations to address the various shortcomings in the provision of protection to civilians in situations of armed conflict. His principal recommendations to the Security Council include the following: to take steps to strengthen the UN's capacity to plan and deploy rapidly; to give consideration to the imposition of arms embargoes in situations where civilians/humanitarian workers are targeted by parties to the conflict; to make greater use of tar geted sanctions to deter and contain those who commit egregious violations of international humanitarian and human rights law; to deploy international military observers to monitor the situation in camps for internally displaced persons and refugees when the presence of armed elements is suspected; and if necessary, deploy international military forces that are prepared to take effective measures to compel disarmament of those armed elements; in the face of massive and ongoing abuses, consider the imposition of appropriate enforcement action.
These recommendations are being carefully studied by the Government and we will be making our views known to the Security Council through EU and UN channels.
Given the many areas of instability in the world today, these various efforts to ensure an adequate level of protection for non-combatants are a priority objective for us.
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